1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a production program creating system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a production program creating system which creates a production program in which various kinds of processings are described as modules. The various kinds of processings are for producing a board by mounting an electronic component on the board by means of a component mounting device, the electronic component being supplied from a component feeding device.
2. Background Art
A component mounting device (a mounter) sucks an electronic component supplied from a feeder by means of a suction head and moves the suction head to a predetermined position on a board, thereby mounting the component on the board. A production of a board (a mounting of components) is carried out by creating a production program for each kind of a board. Each production program includes various data for producing a board with a mounting device, e.g., data related to a board, data related to amounting position, data related to a component (for example, length, width and height dimensions), data related to a sucking position, information for an image recognition, and data related to coating of an adhesive agent.
Generally, a plurality of component mounting devices is installed in assembly lines, and a plurality of dispensers is also installed, whereby a production of a plurality of kinds of boards is carried out. When producing a plurality of kinds of boards, a plurality of production programs is created such as to constitute a single program (formed into a cluster) so that the plurality of production programs can be efficiently performed in a shortest time period. Inside the clustered production program, an optimization of the production program or a feeder arrangement is carried out so as not to necessitate a rearrangement of feeders when a kind of a board to be produced is changed (see, e.g., JP-A-2003-229696).
Further, feeders used in respective production programs may be allocated to component mounting devices in order to carry out a balanced production among the respective component mounting devices (see, e.g., JP-A-2004-319719).
As described above, a production program for producing a plurality of kinds of boards is created such that the board can be produced efficiently and within a shortest time period, and such that a production is carried out with a balanced production line. In order to create such a production program, a production program creating system including a plurality of processing modules is used. In this specification, “a module” is a concept that is used, for example, in an engineering design, and indicates a unit or a station that constitutes a part of a system.
By use of a production program creating system, a production line with various component mounting devices having different characteristics can be configured. However, due to a characteristic of the production program creating system, each time a new type of device comes out, the new type of device needs to be supported. According to a system configuration of the related art, since a processing for a new type of device is added to each of the processing modules each time when dealing with a new type of device, there is a disadvantage that processings dependent on a type of a device are scattered throughout the whole system.
For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the production program creating system of the related art includes a plurality of function modules A, B, and C. The function module A may be an optimal processing module which optimizes an arrangement of feeders and clusters production programs, thereby producing a board within a shortest time period. The function module B may be a simulation module which simulates a production in accordance with an actually created program, and the function module C may be a processing module in which other board production processings are described.
Since configuration information tables of various types of devices and machine type dependent processings are scattered inside each module, when a new type of a component mounting device appears in such a system configuration, processings dependent on machine types, configuration information of respective machine types, and configuration information of feeding device need to be updated, whereby a whole system is needed to be modified.
Therefore, there has been a problem that a number of steps required for changing a constituent element of a type of a device or for dealing with a new type of device is large, and that reliability is deteriorated by modifying or correcting the whole system. There has also been a problem with regard to a component feeding device, the problem being similar to those faced in dealing with the type of device.